WHO
IS LEADING WHO - Councillor
Robert Standley is still the Leader of
Wealden
District Council. How is that
possible in a democracy where our Prime Minister and the
US President
are limited as to terms of office? Any 'Leader' should be subject to a
maximum term and the interests of such heads should be the subject of
scrutiny as to member finances and interests during such term. The Representation of the People and Local Government
Acts have this to say about pecuniary interests and banning from
standing at local elections:

(1) If a candidate who has been elected is reported by an election court personally guilty or guilty by his agents of any corrupt or illegal practice his election shall be void.

(2) A candidate at a parliamentary election shall also be incapable from the date of the report of being elected to and sitting in the House of Commons for the constituency for which the election was held or any constituency which includes the whole or any part of the area of the first-mentioned constituency as constituted for the purposes of the election—

(a) if reported personally guilty of a corrupt practice, for ten years;

(b) if reported guilty by his agents of a corrupt practice or personally guilty of an illegal practice, for seven years;

(c) if reported guilty by his agents of an illegal practice, during the Parliament for which the election was held.

(3) A candidate at an election under the local government Act shall also be incapable from the date of the report of holding any corporate office in the local government area for which the election was held, or in any local government area which includes the whole or any part of the area of the first-mentioned local government area as constituted for the purposes of the election, or, if the election was in Scotland, of holding any corporate office in Scotland—

(a) if reported personally guilty of a corrupt practice, for ten years,

(b) if reported guilty by his agents of a corrupt practice, for three years,

(c) if reported personally guilty or guilty by his agents of an illegal practice, during the period for which the candidate was elected to serve or for which if elected he might have served,

and if at the date of the report he holds any such corporate office, then the office shall be vacated as from that date. In this subsection " corporate office " in England and Wales means the office of chairman, mayor or councillor of a county, London borough, district or parish or community council or of chairman of a parish or community meeting; and in Scotland the office of councillor of any local authority.

(4) The provisions of this section as to the consequences of the report that a candidate was guilty by his agents of a corrupt or illegal practice have effect subject to the express provisions of this Act relating to particular acts which are declared to be corrupt or illegal practices.

Local Government Act 1972

94 Disability of members of authorities for voting on account of interest in contracts, etc.

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 97 below, if a member of a local authority has any pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, in any contract, proposed contract or other matter, and is present at a meeting of the local authority at which the contract or other matter is the subject of consideration, he shall at the meeting and as soon as practicable after its commencement disclose the fact and shall not take part in the consideration or discussion of the contract or other matter or vote on any question with respect to it.

(2) If any person fails to comply with the provisions of subsection (1) above he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [F1level 4 on the standard scale] unless he proves that he did not know that the contract, proposed contract or other matter in which he had a pecuniary interest was the subject of consideration at that meeting.

(3) A prosecution for an offence under this section shall not be instituted except by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(4) A local authority may by standing orders provide for the exclusion of a member of the authority from a meeting of the authority while any contract, proposed contract or other matter in which he has a pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, is under consideration.

95 Pecuniary interests for purposes of section 94.

(1) For the purposes of section 94 above a person shall be treated, subject to the following provisions of this section and to section 97 below, as having indirectly a pecuniary interest in a contract, proposed contract or other matter,
if —

(a) he or any nominee of his is a member of a company or other body with which the contract was made or is proposed to be made or which has a direct pecuniary interest in the other matter under consideration; or

(b) he is a partner, or is in the employment, of a person with whom the contract was made or is proposed to be made or who has a direct pecuniary interest in the other matter under consideration.

(2) Subsection (1) above does not apply to membership of or employment under any public body, and a member of a company or other body shall not by reason only of his membership be treated as having an interest in any contract, proposed contract or other matter if he has no beneficial interest in any securities of that company or other body.

(3) In the case of married persons living together the interest of one spouse shall, if known to the other, be deemed for the purpose of section 94 above to be also an interest of the other.

[F1(4) In the case of civil partners living together the interest of one civil partner, shall, if known to the other, be deemed for the purpose of section 94 above to be also an interest of the other.]

WOW!
- That appears to disqualify a large number of our members from voting,
but will the voting stop? We doubt it. Members should be in no doubt
that they should leave the chamber when an item they have an interest in
is next on the Agenda.

CONSERVATIVES
- What
cost to the country incompetence? Sloppiness, Negligence and the
failure of Members and Officers to declare their interests?

IF
YOU ARE CONSIDERING RELOCATING TO WEALDEN OR A CAREER IN LOCAL
GOVERNMENT YOU MAY WANT TO KNOW MORE OF THIS ADMINISTRATION THAN THE
COUNCIL WILL LET ON :

*
This council's Monitoring Officer refuses to report his
administrative errors and other reported injustices to the members
of the council as required by law. Ignorance is bliss for the councillors and
hell for the electorate.

*
This
council has been found guilty of maladministration several times
since 1989.

*
This
council has been severely criticised by Planning Inspectors, the
County Court and the High Court for its unreasonable behaviour.

*
The Nolan
Committeerecommend no
council officer serves more than 5 years to prevent cosy
relationships forming. In Wealden DC most senior officers have
served 15 years or more and enjoy working with outside consultants,
who employ ex council officers. Clearly, this is a recipe for disaster.

*The
Nolan
Committeerecommend a new
crime: "misfeasance in public office" should be added to
the statute books.

*
Some
cases would be so damaging to this council, if they came into the
public domain, this council have obtained gagging orders when
settling claims of compensation.

THE
WISHES OF THE MANY
- In our view Mr Edmonds and the Ministers contacted are justifiably
concerned as to Wealden District Council ignoring the wishes of
the public and the needs of our wounded soldiers. Council
officers are civil servants, not gods sitting on a throne
deciding who gets what and the price it is going to cost them.
All to often, councils put a legal spanner in the works just to
hike up those costs to make whatever the proposal is too
expensive to pursue. In this manner they retain their empire and
build their part at the expense of the taxpayer who is more than
likely not being fairly represented by the members of these
councils. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAo-xyIEEkI

Until
the safety net is restored with a fully functional Monitoring
Officer,
so that members may know the true scale of the impropriety within the
Planning and Legal departments, ratepayers money will continue to be
squandered to cover up the facts, money going to preserve the jobs of
professional staff unwilling to admit their mistakes and keen to hang in
there for an enhanced early retirement.

Members
who challenge officers on any issue will find themselves the subject of embarrassing
rebukes, formal letters from officers reminding them of their duties,
etc. The plain fact is, the officers work for the Members and the
Members represent the electorate. All too often we find cases
where officers have accused Members of impropriety in public, to
eliminate these members from the decision making process. It works
because the Member so accused is then forced to declare an interest and
excuse himself. This tactic is adopted when an officer is about to
be exposed and is a last resort. However, these tactics are also
contrary to the Council's constitution, where such public accusations
hardly boost public confidence in the integrity of the Council.
It's got to stop!

This is a revelation as to the level of
discrimination, that councils routinely adopt, when their members will not
do their jobs as the elected representatives of the people. We are now in
possession of a telling transcript of a planning meeting recorded without
this council knowing they were being taped. During this recorded meeting
Wealden's officers were deceiving the members of a planning committee - just
as they had deceived Inspector Dannruether in 1987. In planning terms that
is called "nursing a lie." Yup. They lied to the Secretary
of State in 1987 and they are still lying to you now.

What
of Sussex Police. They have been asked if we can view their Register of
Interests, with an especial leaning toward Masons.
Do they have such a register? If they do, will it be accurate - and if
so will it reveal the links between complainants where fellow masons who
are civilians have instigated or at least pushed for the prosecution of
another civilian that they have fallen out with.

According
to the independent research into police Masonry, Martin Short, author of the most detailed account of modern British freemasonry,
'Inside The Brotherhood,' estimates that 20% of London officers belong to Masonic lodges. He says there is cause for concern about this and in December, he gave evidence to the Select Committee inquiry of a case he had researched recently in Lancashire which, he told them, “demonstrates just how badly the administration of justice can go wrong when police, Crown Prosecution solicitors and private citizens are all in the same Masonic lodge.”

This story began one night in 1988 when two Leicester businessmen were taking a late-night drink in a hotel in Blackburn. A group of burly strangers in dinner jackets ordered them out of the bar. The Leicester men declined to go. The strangers then announced that they were policemen and proceeded to beat them up. They then called other police who arrested the two Leicester men and charged them with assaulting police officers. When the Leicester men were released on bail the next morning, they found that the hotel manager had seized their belongings until they agreed to pay for damage caused by the fight and that someone had let all the air out of their car tyres and removed their hub caps.

The Blackburn police and Crown prosecutors pursued the case to court, where the two Leicester men faced substantial jail sentences for allegedly assaulting policemen. But the case fell apart. The jury rejected all of the police evidence and found that the Leicester businessmen were not guilty of any offence at all. The judge signalled his own view by taking the unusual step of ordering that the defendants’ costs should be paid out of the public purse. The two men then sued for assault, wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, conspiracy to injure and libel. In an out-of-court settlement, they were awarded £170,000, most of which was paid on behalf of the policemen by the Lancashire force.

Martin Short told the Select Committee that freemasonry was at the heart of this case. The two Leicester men had stumbled into the tail-end of a Masonic event, a dinner organised by the Victory lodge of Blackburn. This lodge, said Short, is dominated by police officers: the policemen who were involved in the original fight, the officer who subsequently investigated the incident, a senior official in the Crown Prosecution office which handled the case, and the manager of the hotel where the dinner took place were all members of the Victory lodge.

The
Councillors below meet together as a Full
Council several times a year. During these
assemblies they decide the Council's overall policies and
budgets. The Council's Chairman, Vice Chairman and Leader
are elected annually. A Cabinet
comprising 8 members is appointed by the Leader's
recommendation, which group takes major decisions the Council
may take. Other Committees
are also formed to decide various issues such as waste
management and planning control. You may ask a PUBLIC
QUESTION if you put in your request in good time and the Council
must respond in public and confirm their response in writing.

Policies
are implemented through the Chief
Executive and six Chief
Officers who manage the departments and services the Council
provides. Therefore, it is essential that Councillors appoint
officers fit to carry out their duties.

The
Development Control Sub-Committees (North
and South)
meet on a four weekly basis to determine planning applications and
deal with other development control functions. This
Council employs around 600 staff in offices at Crowborough
and Hailsham.

Peter
the town rat
loves to kiss officers behinds. He'll do anything for a pat on the back and
a nice little check for his expenses each month. It's the easy life for him.
Unfortunately for Peter
that is at odds with his duty to represent the people. But what the heck,
he's been getting away with it for years and nobody mentions about the tan color
of his nose anymore, because there are so many other tan noses about. When a
new member joins with his bright pink nose, it's not long before the
officers have him nicely trained not to question their dictatorial
control. Nuzzle up, you'll soon not notice the odour - but be careful,
for thankfully, the public with pink noses can smell the bull.

YOUR
RIGHTS

Citizens
have a number of rights in their dealings with the Council.
They may ask public questions, enquire of the Monitoring Officer as to
the legality of any decision, action or refusal to take action - as in
the case of Anne Harris, where this
council were found guilty of failing to protect this vulnerable
farmer. You may lobby the members and these members, seen below,
have a duty to properly investigate issues. You will find some
members less than useless, you may get fobbed off, told lies, etc.
Occasionally though, you will find a very active councillor. In
fact, there are more members than ever, prepared to ask awkward
questions and get to the truth of a matter - despite officers fudging
replies and misleading them.

For
further detailed information on how the Council operates download a
copy of the new Constitution
(pdf file - 236kb) or
contact Martyn Garrett, Member Services Manager on 01892 602433 or e
mail: martyn.garrett@wealden.gov.uk

POTTY
TRAINING - Using a potty may be a new skill for your planning team to learn. It's best to take it slowly and go at your
candidate's pace, about the same pace as a child should do the trick. Being patient with them will help them get it right, even if
they sometimes feel frustrated. They should be taught that every person
is entitled to a toilet as per Article 14
no matter how much their team are out to get any challenging member of the public
such as Mr
Kruschandl - and yes we know how irritating it is
to be caught out - and yes of course that makes you hate that member of
the public more - so that you try another dirty trick and then an even
dirtier trick until misfeasance becomes malfeasance. So, if you are going to plan a vendetta, be sure that
you don't get caught with your trousers down. Bury your target good and proper - or he or she
may come back to haunt you with the inconvenient truth and reveal what
your council did and why they did it - and worst of all - your part in
the whole sorry affair. Think then of blowing the whistle. It may be
your only way out. Blow it sooner rather than later. Is your job worth
living with this level of corruption?

PLANNING
COMMITTEE SOUTH

The
Planning Committee South supersedes the Planning Sub-Committee
South anddetermines planning applications, tree preservation orders and enforces
planning control for the south of the District.

It
is possible to register to speak on planning applications that
come to Committee, and information is available on how to register
for Public
Speaking at Committee meetings. We recommend that you do this
- for if you don not, the officers could and as we have shown, do
not tell the truth.

The
Committee meets regularly every four weeks on a Thursday –
please see the calendar of meeting dates for further information.
The meetings are open to the public and are held in the Council
Offices in Hailsham.

AREA
PLANS SOUTH - FLUSHED
WITH SUCCESS - We
imagine that Wealden would have been overjoyed in duping the High Court
into making an Order that demanded removal of toilet facilities from their
long-term adversary's home, condemning him to defecate in the old
fashioned way - and remarkable is it not how well an animal can adapt and
build from sheer determination until it is time to reveal the truth and
his gleaming new urinals.

The building has toilets re-fitted of course
thanks to Dame
Butler-Sloss. The occupiers rejoice with each pull of the handle, at the resourcefulness
of this underdog when the chips were down. The frivolity at Wealden's
offices was short lived when the Health & Safety Executive chimed in
to spend a penny or two. From that point on Wealden have been bogged down
with the publication of what they had done - and permanent skidmarks in
the underpants of their hall of shame. No amount of toilet tissue can ever
wipe the brown from this council's back passages.

COUNCIL
MEMBERS FROM 2006

You'll
notice that many of these councillors from seven years ago are still in
evidence - and those are the members that are most likely to be in the
pockets of local developers and of course officers of the council that have
struck up cozy relationships with big business, at the expense of the
ordinary man in the street who simply wants a fair
deal.

Fresh
faces will be less likely to have succumbed to the wiles of persuasive
officers, such as Ian Kay, who was an officer with this council for over 20
years. In 20 years you can get used to the perks of such a position and come
to rely on that level of power. Power of course corrupts.

THIS
SITE CONTAINS MANY EXAMPLES OF THIS COUNCIL'S UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR - With
thanks to Action Groups across the country for the supply of real case
history and supporting documents. *THAT THE PUBLIC MAY KNOW*

During
the 2nd World War, the Pevensey Levels hosted an underground radar tracking
station. The emplacements seen in the photograph above were to protect the
early warning station from land attack. The underground installation was
flooded the last time our local historian visited. These remains are of
historic importance. The above ground buildings on the adjacent hill have
been converted to residential use. This is archaeological evidence of the
fight against fascism that our forefathers carried to eradicate dictators,
that we may enjoy our land peacefully and without interference from local
authority with Nazi like agendas.

Historic
buildings like the Castle above survive in the Wealden area, despite the
efforts of council officers to avoid their duty to the built environment.
This is testimony to the grit of the public, rather than the blood sucking
nature of an organisation that bleeds taxes to pay staff that are in some
cases negligent, power hungry and therefore a liability to freedom of the people
from state interference. If such matters are allowed to escalate unchecked,
it would not be long before England becomes a Nazi satellite.

Sexual
cannibalism in humans is commonplace where the (UK) state still pays
bunny-boilers to fabricate allegations - despite the untenable ratio of
false allegations. This is called Noble
Cause Corruption, so named because the cause (more convictions of
rapists and perverts) is noble, but the means (convicting significant
numbers of innocent men) is corrupt. A decent justice system is one where
convictions are safe; where an appeal is guaranteed and where the court
system does not refuse appellants the evidence for their barristers to
perfect grounds of appeal. Unlike most European countries, the right of
appeal in the UK in not mandatory and the discretionary single judge paper
system is open to startling abuses. This book is based on a real case study,
that reveals the fatal flaws in the English justice system. No man in
England is safe until these issues are dealt with - it could happen to
anyone. Let us not forget that the simplest way for councils under attack is
to make an allegation
against a person who is questioning their authority.